If you’re back in your hometown for the summer, it can be easy to get stuck in a rut: you go to the same spots as you did in high school, and do roughly the same things. This is particularly true if you’re under-21 and can’t yet explore your hometown bar scene. However, after about a week, revisiting the same old places can be pretty mind-numbingly boring–here are some times for finding new spots.

Hit up Yelp: If you’re looking for a new place to do something you know you like, check out Yelp to see what new places you can do it in. You don’t have to go to the same coffee shop every week–search for a new place in a different neighborhood, for example. Yelp’s also great for telling you if there’s something interesting (like a street festival) going on nearby that you can check out.

Take a class: If you’ve got the cash (or you can find a free lecture series), take a class in an art of some kind–perhaps music lessons. This will allow you to pick up a new skill, meet new people (if it’s a group class), and perhaps explore a new part of town if you pick an unfamiliar place for the class to be in. Read the rest of this entry »